Romantic and sexual orientation: Difference between revisions

'''Romantic and sexual orientation''' are enduring personal qualities that incline people to feel romantic and sexual attraction to certain kinds of people. Sometimes terms for sexual orientation are also used to include romantic orientation, the tendency to feel romantic attraction to certain kinds of people. Other times, orientation labels differentiate between romantic and sexual attraction. Some of the most widely known labels for attraction, such as "lesbian," also imply the user's gender. Words for attraction experienced by nonbinary people or attraction to nonbinary people have been proposed, but are not as wide-spread yet. By some interpretations, every orientation includes attraction to some nonbinary people.<ref name="KravitzM">{{Cite web |title=Does Liking a Nonbinary Person Make You Bi or Pan? Not Necessarily. |last=M. |first=Kravitz |work=Medium |date=29 June 2020 |access-date=25 August 2020 |url= https://medium.com/an-injustice/does-liking-a-nonbinary-person-make-you-bi-or-pan-not-necessarily-359241923561}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://kil9.tumblr.com/post/617496855567286272/i-think-a-reason-why-so-many-people-dont-accept |title=i think a reason why so many people dont accept that every sexuality is inclusive of nonbinary people is because they think every sexuality must be inclusive of ALL nonbinary people, and that’s just not true| date= 7 May 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.ph/jn8mh |archive-date=26 Jan 2022}}</ref> This wiki article includes many terms for romantic and sexual orientation that may include nonbinary people, and explains how they may.  

== Usually attracted to women ==

In the English-speaking world, most people know about three orientations that are usually attracted to women: bisexuals (who are attracted to two or more genders), [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Heterosexuality|heterosexual men]], and [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Homosexuality|homosexual women]] ([[Romantic and sexual orientation#Lesbian|lesbians]]). Some other identity labels have been proposed in order to have a way to say that one is usually attracted to women, without labeling one's own gender identity: [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Gynephilia|gynephilia]], [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Femaric|femaric]], [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Feminamoric|feminamoric]], [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Neptunic|neptunic]], and [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Venusic|venusic]]. Some identity labels have been proposed specifically for nonbinary people who are usually attracted to women: [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Azalian|azalian]], nonbinary people loving women ([[Romantic and sexual orientation#NBLW|NBLW]]), and [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Orbisian/Trixic|orbisian/trixic]].  

An [[Gender alignment|unaligned]] nonbinary person who is only attracted to women. Suffixes are added to specify type of attration, e.g. donnasexual, donnaromantic, donnaqueerplatonic, etc. "Donna" means woman in Italian. Coined by a person named Fy in a 2017 submission to Beyond MOGAI Pride Flags.<ref name="beyo_Donn">{{Cite web |title=Donna- Pride Flags |author=Fy |work=Beyond MOGAI Pride Flags |date=5 August 2017 |access-date=19 September 2020 |url= https://beyond-mogai-pride-flags.tumblr.com/post/163851088970/donna-pride-flags}}</ref>

Non-straight attraction by anyone to women and feminine-aligned people. Coined by Tumblr user goodpositivitylgbt.<ref>https://goodpositivitylgbt.tumblr.com/post/162015830695/new-terms-as-many-of-you-know</ref>

A nonbinary person attracted exclusively to women.<ref name="diamoricpositivity" /><ref name="kravitz-GIT">{{Cite web |title=Gender Identities and Terminology: An Abridged But Not-So-Basic Guide |last=M. |first=Kravitz |work=Medium |date=1 February 2021 |access-date=30 May 2021 |url= https://kravitzi.medium.com/gender-identities-and-terminology-an-abridged-but-not-so-basic-guide-d5ba7d2806fa}}</ref> Various flags have been created for this orientation.

Some women who are attracted to women call themselves gay women. Gay women may or may not consider this to mean the exact same thing as lesbian. Gay women may or may not also consider themselves genderqueer. A notable example of this is American musician [[King Princess]], who describes herself as a [[genderqueer]] person and gay [[woman]].<ref name="Menuez">{{Cite web |title=King Princess |last=Menuez |first=Bobbi |work=theingenuemagazine.com |date= |access-date=6 May 2020 |url= https://theingenuemagazine.com/king-princess/}}</ref>

Gynephilia, also referred to as gynesexuality, gynosexuality<ref name="Kaplan">{{cite book|title=Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, and Visions |chapter=Your Fence Is Sitting on Me: The Hazards of Binary Thinking |author=Kaplan, Rebecca |year=1995 |quote=Even if I agreed that it is useful to have words to name the sex(es) to whom someone is erotically attracted, I would not have to use the categories homosexual and heterosexual. I could just as easily divide the world up into gynosexual (attracted to women), androsexual (attracted to men), and bisexual (attracted to both).}}</ref>, or femsexuality, is a romantic or sexual orientation in which a person feels attraction to women or to traits they perceive as feminine.<ref name="NeutroisTerms">"LGBTQ Terms." ''Neutrois.com.'' [http://neutrois.com/definitions/terms]</ref>

This term has gained criticism, arguing that the prefix "gyne-" is focused on genitals, not gender.<ref>https://enbysbians.carrd.co/#terf</ref> Indeed, some sources do define it as "sexual attraction to the female anatomy".<ref name="Blake">{{Cite web |title=Are You Gynesexual? Here's What It Is & How To Tell |last=Blake |first=Jessica |work=Bolde |date= |access-date=28 November 2020 |url= https://www.bolde.com/gynesexual-what-how-tell/ }}</ref> Other sources disagree, saying that it is an "attraction toward women, females, and perceived femininity irrespective of whether or not they were assigned female at birth."<ref name="Zambon">{{Cite web |title=What are different types of sexualities? |author=Zambon, Veronica |work=medicalnewstoday.com |date=19 October 2020 |access-date=28 November 2020 |url= https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/types-of-sexuality#spectrum-or-sliding-scale}}</ref> Thus, someone who uses the term "gynephilic" or "gynesexual" for themselves might be attracted to feminine women (both cis and trans) as well as feminine men.<ref name="Blake" />

=== Lesbian ===

* American autistic activist blogger [[Mel Baggs]] (1980 - 2020), who said sie<ref name="TDOV">{{cite web|url=https://withasmoothroundstone.tumblr.com/post/115187595380/transgender-day-of-visibility-mel-age-34|title=Transgender day of visibility.|date=April 2015}}</ref> was a [[genderless]] lesbian.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://withasmoothroundstone.tumblr.com/post/145842413020/im-a-genderless-lesbian-and|title=I’m a genderless lesbian and…|date=June 2016}}</ref>

* American revolutionary communist and trans rights activist [[Leslie Feinberg]] (1949 - 2014). Feinberg identified as a transgender [[butch]] lesbian, describing butch as a sense of a queer masculine transgender identity neither female nor male. Feinberg's novel, ''Stone Butch Blues'' (1993), won the prestigious American Library Association Award for Gay and Lesbian Literature and a LAMBDA Literary Award.<ref name="lesliefeinberg">[http://www.lesliefeinberg.net/ Village Voice]</ref>

* American<ref name="OralHistory">{{Cite web |title=OralHistoryArchive • From a Whisper to a Roar lesbian decriminalisation |author= |work=From a Whisper to a Roar |date=17 June 2019 |access-date=8 May 2020 |url= http://www.whisper2roar.org.uk/oral-history-archive/}}</ref> LGBT+ activist [[Jamie Wildman]] (1950-2020).<ref name="Video">{{Cite web |title=Coming out as non-binary at age 69 {{!}} This Is Life |author=PinkNews |work=YouTube |date=13 April 2020 |access-date=8 May 2020 |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-W7AXC8URI}}</ref>

* American musician and comedian [[Maxine Feldman|Maxine "Max" Feldman]] (1945-2007) was a transgender butch lesbian and his/her gender identity was described by his/her partner as "both/and".<ref name="Kiritsy">{{cite news|last=Kiritsy|first=Laura|title=Lesbian trail blazer Maxine Feldman dies|url=http://www.edgeprovidence.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=36268|newspaper=Edge Providence|date=August 30, 2007}}</ref>

=== Womasexual ===

"Attraction to women (and/or feminine genders, depending on the person)."<ref name="polyamaesthetic2020">{{Cite web |title=Anonymous asked: Hi, I'm wondering if you know any systems of terms used to describe attraction to a specific gender without including the gender of the person experiencing the attraction? |author= |work=polyamaesthetic |date=15 August 2020 |access-date=10 September 2020 |url= https://polyamaesthetic.tumblr.com/post/626554691551215616/hi-im-wondering-if-you-know-any-systems-of-terms}}</ref>  

== Usually attracted to men ==

In the English-speaking world, most people know about three orientations that are usually attracted to men: bisexuals, [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Heterosexuality|heterosexual women]], and [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Homosexuality|homosexual men]] ([[Romantic and sexual orientation#Gay men|gay men]]). Some other identity labels have been proposed in order to have a way to say that one is usually attracted to men, without labeling one's own gender identity: [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Androphilia|androphilia]], [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Marsic|marsic]], [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Mascic|mascic]], and [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Uranic|uranic]]. Some identity labels have been proposed specifically for nonbinary people who are usually attracted to men: nonbinary people loving men ([[Romantic and sexual orientation#NBLM|NBLM]]), [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Azurian|azurian]], [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Quadrisian/Toric|quadrisian/toric]], [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Thistlian|thistlian]], and [[Romantic and sexual orientation#Viramoric|viramoric]].